Tomb Raider and Tomb Traitor
by BusyQuill
Summary: Alex needs Lara's help on a job that could make or break him.


Chapter 1  
  
Lara awoke to the sound of rain beating against her window and the tinkering of plates. Morning had come – a bad morning. She rubbed her eyes and yawned before stepping out of her bed. Her ankle twisted as she placed her weight upon it. She stumbled over and hit her elbow on the edge of her bed and grabbed the curtain – pulling it down. She flapped her arms until the material was off her torso and cursed under her breath – May 15th. The worst day of her life. If had been a year since the all Seeing Eye and the Illuminati.  
  
Two months passed since her last meeting with Mr. West – did not go well. First she accidentally knocked over and killed his cat then she started yelling at him – they hadn't exchanged two words since.  
  
She stood up and brushed herself down. She moved her limbs to make sure she hadn't injured anything then started to brush her hair.  
  
Her hair was tatty, this was unusual, she tugged at it and clumps were getting caught in the bristles of her brush. Sighing she placed the brush on her dresser – giving up and tying it into Mohan plat. It would be easier to brush on a normal day.  
  
She took her least favourite clothes out of her closet. Last year she tore her favourite shorts and wasn't willing to risk it again.  
  
She made her way downstairs carefully just in time for the mail to slide through the letterbox. She picked it up and read through them  
  
"Bill, bill, junk…" she stopped her words at the green envelope, just as she entered the kitchen where Hillary was quickly preparing breakfast and where Bryce sat typing into his laptop computer.  
  
"Yes! E-mail from the technical inventors association!" Bryce smiled as he tapped on the keys of the computer. "Regular mail is rubbish compared to this"  
  
"Hillary, bills to pay" She dropped a pile of letters on the table, the green envelope remaining in her hand.  
  
"Lara? Is something wrong?" Hillary asked her turning away from the oven.  
  
"The nerve of that man" She scowled opening the letter up.  
  
"Annual sympathy card from Alex?" Bryce questioned her as she slid the card out of the green paper.  
  
"With deepest sympathy" Lara read sarcastically. She turned over the cover "Sorry about your loss, and the terrible time you have on the 15th, love, Alex" she sighed in disgust and threw the card into the bin.  
  
"I don't understand, I thought you and Alex were speaking now," Bryce said as Lara sat down opposite him "You did save his life"  
  
"Well, we're not, so let's not mention his name again" Lara retorted  
  
Hillary laid down pancakes and a cappuccino in front of Lara "I'd rather have orange juice, thanks" Lara had to be careful. She began to eat her pancakes apprehensively.  
  
A large stone tent-like monument stood in Croft gardens, the monument to her father. Lara walked down the small plaque and laid down a single thorn- less rose intercepted with a water Lilly onto it. "Time was stolen, so I stole time, and gave up the only chance of a full life together, by giving it back. But I made you proud. I miss you daddy – I always will" She kissed her finger-tips and laid them onto the pocket watch that she held in her other hand, before setting it down onto the memoriam. As she walked out of the stone tent replica she noticed a large car pulling up to her house and a rugged-dressed man climbing out of the driver's seat. She narrowed her eyebrows as she jogged up the steps and back into her house.  
  
The doorbell rang and Hillary answered.  
  
"Hey Hilly, how's things? Good? That's great is Lara home?" The man asked. It was Alex, Alex West. His attire consisted of a white tank top and green khaki pants rolled up to his knees.  
  
"It's Hillary, I am good and Lara is home but I very much doubt she has any interest in talking to you" Hillary did not like Alex, or his attitude.  
  
"Whoa! Calm down! I just want to talk to her – I'm not going to steal anything" Alex replied walking past him looking around.  
  
"Alex West, Do you ever change your clothes?" Lara asked standing in the shadow of her stairway  
  
"Lara, hey" Alex made his way over to the Tomb Raider.  
  
"Hillary, it's ok, you can do as you please now" Lara told her butler. He nodded and walked out of the room sending a dirty look towards the American.  
  
"What do you want?" Lara sneered turning her back on Alex and sitting on the stairs.  
  
"I just want to see how you're doing." He answered sitting next to her  
  
"What do you think?" She turned her head away from him. She hated talking to people about her feelings especially Alex. When they were archaeologist partners she told him everything, trusted him with her life, until he started stealing off her. "Two months Alex, two months, you never called"  
  
"I suppose you were always trying to get through to me?" Alex trusted Lara with his life, until he took her prayer wheels.  
  
"You do it every year. Never call then give me a card on the 15th. It annoys me." She looked at him briefly with pure anger shooting out of her orbs, before turning to face the opposite direction again.  
  
"I'll stop doing it then. Anyway, that's not really why I'm here" He confessed  
  
"Another lie Alex?" she questioned him. They knew each other when they were around 15, Lara was being beat up at her all girl school for being a tom boy – at her mixed school it was because she was rich, but then when her father died she was transferred so she could get a better chance at an education – and Alex was being beat up for being best friends with a girl. They spent all of their time together; talking about trips to Egypt, photography and relics their fathers had dug up. They often pitched up a tent and showed off different artefacts before taking pictures of each other against different terrain screens. They were happy. But then on a trip to Egypt Lara found a map before he did so he stole it from her. She gave him more chances but he blew them all – that was the end.  
  
"Just hear me out. There's a big job opportunity on the go – for two archaeologists, two months deadline, five locations on the map, France, Italy, Antarctica, America and Africa…well, Egypt. "  
  
"ah" Lara smirked "Egypt"  
  
"You used to love that place!" Alex informed  
  
"USED to" She retorted "not anymore"  
  
"So how about it?"  
  
"You know what? I'd love to…" She started  
  
"But…" Alex continued her sentence  
  
"But…the mere thought of spending two whole months with you makes my blood boil" she finished standing up and securing her knife in her boot  
  
"C'mon Lara, we may not be able to be friends again, but we should try to keep the peace" Alex stood as well  
  
"Keep what peace?" She asked angrily "The peace was stolen along with my bloody prayer wheels!" Lara had thought this thought before Cambodia, making peace with Alex. Never happened. She thought they were friends again, but then Alex sold the story to all of the papers receiving a LOT of money – he now lives in a mansion, rather then his stuffy apartment. "If you honestly believe we can ever make peace again you're foolish"  
  
"We've already established that, when I took, took the prayer wheels. I thought we had made peace, until now…" Alex looked to the floor "Lara, this job can mean big things for me – big, HUGE things"  
  
"What? Big HUGE cheques?" She snapped back "I'm not going, we have no peace and we most certainly are NOT friends!" She began walking up the stairs "You can show yourself out" She shouted, not turning her head. Alex sighed and began to walk to the door. 


End file.
